Paying for social care - good news or bad news?

Seems that TM is announcing a big change too!

Well they've "changed" their policy because they're worried about losing votes. Strong and Stable eh? Weak and Wobbly more like. Not that it's changed much, as far as I can see the change is for people living in care homes who will have the amount they pay capped. They apparently haven't said what the cap is (they have run out of space on back of their envelope). If they change their policy in the run up to the Election, what will they change afterwards?

Has anyone any idea how this would impact on someone looking after an elderly parent. My DM lives in sheltered housing and has always coped, but she is 95 and her memory is failing, I have always thought if she gets too bad I would bring her to live with me, rather than put her in a home, but now I wonder. Would I be expected to fund her care if she lived with me? Anyone know. I do hope she would be funded just as she would in a home but I'm not certain.

It would go on her assets trisher. Currently that would be her income and savings. If Tories brought this in would also include the value of any home she still owned.

If she'a only in receipt of benefits & limited savings then she would contribute part of her benefits and they council would pay the rest. (Not sure whether the state pension counts as a benefit - probably does).

If she doesn't have property it won't make much difference - but she may still have to pay towards the cost of her care from any income.

Actually I am guessing that - that's how it works for people with disabilities who receive care (so my son's income is PIP and ESA - he pays across most of that to the council).

To contribute towards the cost of his care.

Thanks Nezumi65

The Tories have blundered into a minefield by making up policy during an election...

Another u-turn. Whoops! The wheel's come off the waggon. Still keep rolling along though Tess.

First of all, I am sorry to hear about the situation regards your Mother daphnedil who has only weeks to live.?We can get carried away on politics threads and forget that in the great scheme of things, people and their lives matter far more.

jools dd and angelab I agree with your posts. It seems T May will be amending this social care idea, so it will end up as a slightly different thing in any case.A lot of people in RL don't understand how it will work and it's causing confusion.I believe the final result will be along the same lines, but a cap instead of a floor.

Maybot doesn't understand how it will work in real life, either, and it's her policy.
Her ministers say they were not consulted on it in the first place, so who was?

I'm inclined to agree with lazigirl - she's run out of space on tha back of the envelope

Would this be the envelope that took over from the fag packet that all politicians love to talk about? Don't any of them have more techie things to write on, or a notebook at least.

If the money isn't payable till someone dies what will happen to a surviving spouse? They wouldn't be able to sell the house to downsize or move nearer family as there would be a charge on the house, they would have to pay care costs and fees presumably before they would get anything. This policy sooo hasn't been thought through. Consultation my elbow.

Fag packets have more room now they are all plain packaging.

Just as well djit will leave room for the next correction.

I have just read this. I find it unbelievable.

www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/2017/05/fawcett-womens-manifesto-general-election/

How can 8 million women say they are not certain to vote.
All the ones I know are. Even when buying a newspaper there are conversations about whether you are going to vote, not what you are going to vote, and I've never heard anyone say no, they can't be bothered, or don't know whether they will or not. I find this very strange.

The Theresa May party is not amending anything RAR. She has just said there was always going to be a Green Paper and the a cap will be in that too. She lied in my opinion.

Apparently the 'misunderstanding' was nothing to do with the fact that a) we were told yesterday by a Tory minister that nothing would change from what we had heard and b) we still do not know what the suggested cap would be and they could still decide to go with the original suggestion.

But who does The Theresa May party blame - Jeremy Corbyn 'giving fake information'. If he did so did all her sponsors, all those speaking on behalf of the Theresa May Party and every journalist. Such a cowardly way to try and deal with HER mistake.

You are certainly right about a lot of people in RL not understanding how it will work - but then neither do you do you, do you RAR? None of us do because we haven't been given enough information. Many people do not understand how it works currently either.

The CAP that was suggested by Dilmot was £72,000 and the Conservatives had said they would follow this This is how they said it would work. It doesn't mean that once you have spent £72,000 the state will pay the rest. Most people will have to spend around twice that on care home fees before the cap is reached.^

Here is how the Department for Health said it would work if you go into a care home from 2020 and you have money in the bank – say £300,000 (including the value of your home) – and can pay your own fees.

More than four out of ten people in care homes do – they are called "self-funders". You find a care home you like that costs £720 a week. You comfort yourself by working out that after 100 weeks – just under two years – you will have spent £72,000 so then it will be free. Sadly it will not.

First, the cap is not reached when you have spent £72,000. The cap represents the amount of care you could buy at the rate your local authority would pay. Let's say in your area the local council is prepared to pay only up to £650 a week for a care home, so it would take 111 weeks to reach £72,000, by which time you would have paid £79,920.

Even then, the cap will not have been reached because it covers only care costs – not the cost of board and lodging in the home.The Government is expected to fix the national figure for board and lodging at £12,000 a year, which is £230 a week. Deducting that from £650 leaves just £420 a week as the cost of the care that the council will pay for.

It is that amount which counts towards the cap and it will take 172 weeks – three years and four months – before you have paid £72,000. By then, your total fees will have cost you £123,840, partly on board and lodging, but also because your home charges you more for care than the local authority is prepared to pay.

Even when you reach the cap, the whole of your care home fees will not be paid. The state will pay only the £420 a week local authority cost of care, leaving you to find the balance of £300 a week.

Those official figures may paint too rosy a picture. Someone paying the average cost of a care home in England – which is £537 a week – would need to pay the fees for more than five years and spend more than £150,000 before the cap was reached.

The average stay in a care home is two and a half years, so most people who fund themselves will not live long enough to see the benefit of the cap.

The Institute of Actuaries estimates that only one in eight women and one in 12 men who go into a care home at the typical age of 85 will benefit from the cap.

www.saga.co.uk/money/care-funding-advice/what-you-need-to-know-about-care-home-fees

GGMK2 thanks for that really helpful post. I feel it is time to start saving now for a visit to Switzerland! (Do you have to be terminally ill to use dignitas?)

The Maybot doesn't have any corrections programmed except 'blame Corbyn'

I've read her described as acting like a "malfunctioning robot".

Reading a book about Brexit and Maybot boo-boos to date I would say she needs a new motherboard.

We're tending to think these ill thought out policies are only applicable to the elderly but I have just heard a heartbreaking phone in on Radio Five Live from a young mother with a 33 yr old husband who is newly diagnosed with a type of MND. They are both beside themselves worrying about her losing their home when he dies, to retrospectively pay for his home care. £100,000 doesn't go far in London!

There was another one of a daughter who had given up her job and moved in with her mother to care for her and was distraught that she would be homeless. Jen put it on before.

Found it: www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/theresa-may-carers-lbc-nick-ferrari_uk_591ec206e4b094cdba531e5a

I think we do need to think about the next generation who will have to care or find care. It is certainly not only the elderly and the problems for younger people is that they can need much more care. What on earth is 24 hour care going to cost?